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Transform Scotland have welcomed the report of the ‘Air Quality in Scotland Inquiry’ carried out by the Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee. [1]

Colin Howden, Transform Scotland’s director, said:

“We were very happy to provide written and oral evidence to the Parliament’s environment committee, and are pleased with the range of recommendations that the committee has now come forth with.

“We are in particular pleased that the committee has recommended that cars be included in Low Emission Zones from the outset. While we have been a strong supporter of Glasgow City Council’s efforts to put in place a LEZ in Glasgow, it was always a non-starter that the Zone should include buses but not cars. Excessive private car use is the problem, and public transport one of the principal solutions, so it was simply daft that buses were proposed to be targeted in the LEZ while cars were given a free pass.” [2]

[2] The report states on page 2: “The Committee believes that for LEZs to best contribute to improvements in air quality in their respective areas, cars should be included. The Committee therefore recommends that the Scottish Government ask the relevant local authorities to include private vehicles in their LEZs.”